Valentine’s Day is in February and we think of our heart and opening our hearts, being kind to others and ourselves, and the sweet feelings of giving gifs of flowers and candy to those we love. These sweet, tender feelings are in direct opposition to what we see outside of ourselves in the world.

We see cold temperatures that freeze everything in the U.S., we see mudslides in Brazil that kill and smother life; we see countries getting more and more repressive and fascist-like; we see economies around the world that continue to benefit the ultra wealthy; and we see hate crimes abound. It is hard to open your heart in these conditions and could be seen as dangerous. So where do we go? How do we get from this scenario into a world that honors and cultivates kindness, warmth, tenderness and love for each other?

The most important way is to hold on to our own center and sense of values and integrity. Just because the other guy is corrupt and making lots of illegal money, doesn’t mean that it is OK. We know how easy it is to fall into that pit, especially if Washingon is full of this behavior. When people who are supposed to be role models instead show the slimiest part of human nature, it is easy to think why not me, everyone is doing it so it is OK. But, we know in our hearts that it is not OK. It is the voice of the “devil”, our ego, and the worst tendencies of human nature to invite us to sell our souls. To hold to our own moral line is seen is naïve and stupid. But, we all know what happened to Faust!

We are deeply mired in this amoral world where truth is for sale as are our souls. If we don’t seek and act on the values within us, we will be lost as will democracies across the world. This is a time of choice - to act on what we know is right and true. We are in a crisis of values and morality!